posted on Dec, 20 2003 @ 08:04 AM
i notice a commonality among all the posts in this thread...they are convey the concerns of the person posting. in other words, their OWN
interests.
some i wont even bother to address but some i will.
education. it is of the utmost importance we teach our kids, not just at school but at home as well. parents should go beyond what the teachers
teach them and encourage their kids to do more, learn more, be more. i was instilled at a very young age to read and i have a passion for it, i love
to read and i dont know if i would if my parents had not enocuraged me to read. i did well in math partially because i was encouraged at home to do
better than i was doing. so i did better, i found out i could do more, i could do harder math. children are capable of doing more than they realize
and this whole notiong of letting your kids decide for themselves what their limits are is BS.
the education system in some instances has been overrun by parents who are expecting the schools and the teachers to teach their kids everything and
play babysitter for them. some expect the teacher to make johnny or suzy do their homework and sometimes the teachers are held responsible for their
students not coming to class with their books and all required materials needed for the class. the teachers are blamed more and more for students
failing, not learning as fast as others, etc. the parents yell at the school boards and then they make new policies placing resposibility on someone
else so they dont have to hear all these parents yelling at them. zero tolerance policies do not work, changing the F grade to a U doesnt work.
trying to not hurt a childs feelings for failing a test or a class doesnt work, they are still failing and many more are joining their ranks! as with
many things in a childs life education begins at home with parents encouraging and reenforcing the idea that an education paramount in this world. it
is one of the most important investment into their own lives they will ever make. it can mean the difference between becoming the boss or one of his
lackeys.
rather just expecting the government to do soemthing about education we should motiveate ourselves and encourage other parents to take a more active
and pivotal role in their childs education. most of us should know by now the government can only do so much and should only be allowed to do so
much, noone said parenting was easy.
deficit budgeting/fixing. do you want the government having a surplus of money? do you understand that really means they are taking more of your
money than they need and are sitting on the unused portion. do you want them sitting on YOUR money when you could be sitting on it yourself in your
own account? this country has been in debt almost since in inception. to blame any one president is rather foolish and shortsighted to say the
least. i dont have a clear idea on how to decrease/get rid of the deficit as making a decision to stop paying for this or that or to cut spending on
certain things can and usually does have large ramifications at a later date and lets not forget politician have do and WILL continue to spend some of
our money on those who vote for them and will spend more on them hoping to ensure their votes the next election. i have my own ideas on how I would
cut the deficit but whether it would work or not i will never know. but unlike many here on this thread (and this board) i'm not going to claim to
KNOW the answer to this problem as there is no clear cut solution.
i think one way to fix america is to encourage people to stop relying on the government for everything for us. welfare, retirement, housing, food,
education, drugs. the government that can give you everything can also take it all away. what happened to relying on yourself or acting as a
community and come together to help those in need? whatever happened to giving to charities and churches? with all the money the government takes
from us we could give that to charitable orginizations and churches and THEY could take care of the poor and homeless (as they do already) and the
government could focus more on defense/military strengthening, better roads and highways, finding ways to makes itself smaller and less intrusive on
our daily lives. we are a charitable people and give a lot of money each year to help out the unfortunate, both here and abroad yet we are having
some of our money taken from us so the government can do the same thing! talk about giving till it hurts, ouch! people are more apt to being
charitable and helpful when it is VOLUNTARY, making it mandatory is forced charity and i liken it to robbery except the government makes the laws and
i cant have it locked up for stealing from me.
i know some people think its so nice the government thinks for them and takes their money from them for retirement but not everyone likes this or
wants to do this but everyone is forced to participate in this "program" as they call it. why? why cant those who want to opt out be allowed to do
so? of course they would be on their own after that and whatever happens happens. if they make it great, if not there are churches out there to help
out. this goes for those who want out, in other words, those who take the risk upon themselves, not forcing others to take a risk they dont want. (i
can still hear colonel running up to blast me for this anyway)
personal choices in your own life. i dont care if you like men women or both, its none of my business and i dont want to know, what i do is none of
your business and i wont be telling you any time soon either! that being said i am not for "going back into the closet" as some may accuse me of
saying but rather keeping certain things private such as our sexuality. why anyone feels this overbearing need to tell others they like people of the
same sex is beyond me. its not that i'm intolerant of it i just dont get the point of it. so what? you're gay, whatever. its not a big deal to
me and i dont think i should be told because it doesnt involve me. i think some poeple have grown tired of this and feel some are throwing it in
their faces and to a certain extent i dont blame them for feeling that way, SOME people do feel this need to tell everyone within ear shot and then
expects them to be overjoyed or something. not every gay person tells every last person they know about it, some do believe in keeping private
aspects of their lives private. why do you think its called private? because it is one of the most personal aspects of our lives and not everyone
should know about it. i also dont think the government should be deciding either way whether same sex marriages should be allowed or not. i disagree
with the whole concept people have to go to the government and ask for permission to get married to begin with let alone a whole group of people
wanting the government to endorse their marriage and make it a federal law. the government really shouldnt be setting social standards, they take our
money AND has the power to tell people how to live? sounds like a government run amok, a government in need of a lot of downsizing.
there are so many more things to discuss....but i cant list them all inthis post...i'll post again later.